Labor Day reverence is lost, say historians

LABOR DAY FACTS

•The first Labor Day was Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. Some 10,000 workers took an unpaid day off and marched to protest job conditions that included 12-hour days.

•Oregon was the first state to authorize Labor Day, in 1887. Four states followed that year.

•Congress made it a federal holiday in June 1894, a month after deadly clashes between striking railroad workers and federal troops in Chicago.

•Union membership doubled from 1896 to 1900, and jumped again during the Great Depression. It peaked around 1950, with about 35 percent of American workers belonging to unions.

•After decades of decline, union membership increased in 2008, from 12.1 percent to 12.4 percent. Government workers are almost five times more likely to be in unions than private-sector employees.

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor;
history.com
; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

“Despite what union leaders like to say, most people don't believe labor is a social movement anymore. It's political.”

PETER MORICI,
University of Maryland business professor

On Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks. On Memorial Day, we remember those killed in military service. On New Year's Day, we welcome the new year.

And on Labor Day, we — what, exactly?

We don't labor, not most of us anyway. It's a day off, and an odd one. It's the only national holiday where the thing we are celebrating is the thing we're getting paid not to do: work.

The result is scores of people who attach no meaning to the day beyond its place on the calendar — the first Monday of September. The unofficial end of summer, or at least of summer vacation.

That kind of historical amnesia is either a tribute to the widespread acceptance of the labor movement's past triumphs, or a reminder of its diminished clout in the nation's work force.

Either way, Labor Day isn't what it used to be.

“I think in some ways the fact that so many people will celebrate Monday and get the day off without realizing the struggle that went into it is sort of symbolic of that struggle,” said Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University. “It's kind of ironic.”

And kind of short-sighted, said Charles Chafe, executive director of Change to Win, a national umbrella organization of labor unions.

“Weekends off, eight-hour workdays, health insurance, pensions, paid holidays — all those things we take for granted were earned literally with the blood, sweat and tears of generations of Americans who sacrificed to make that happen,” Chafe said.

“It's really important on Labor Day for folks to reflect on all they have. We owe it to this proud tradition and heritage to look for ways to stand up and make sure working people are treated with dignity and respect.”

People stood up on the first Labor Day, in 1882, to walk in a parade in New York City. About 10,000 marchers took an unpaid day to demonstrate against what was then the workplace norm: 12-hour days, seven days a week.

The idea of a “workingmen's holiday” spread, and by the end of the decade, eight states had passed laws recognizing it. In 1891, San Diego had its first Labor Day parade.